College of Business and Economics | Annual Report 2021 53 part of the talent pipeline is CCRED’s graduate trainee programme targeted at those who have undertaken or have recently completed a master’s degree to gain practical research experience. The programme has been very successful in that a number of trainees have subsequently been appointed as associate researchers. Secondly, staff promotion is an integral part of the talent management process in CCRED, and this year saw members of the team promoted to the positions of associate professor, assistant lecturer and researcher. Finally, CCRED has an established PhD Fellowship programme geared towards growing young research talent. This is in acknowledgement of the need to build senior research capacity and skills, especially in increasing the number of people completing doctorates. CCRED currently has one PhD candidates on the programme. POLICY AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES CCRED views its policy and public engagement activities as a key plank in its capacity building strategy. The main activities included the hosting of the flagship African Competition and Economic Regulation (ACER) week, delivering the fourth year of the MCom in Competition and Economic Regulation, the launch of the book on Structural Transformation in South Africa, and participation in several policy outreach events. CCRED partnered with the Competition Authority of Kenya (CAK) to host the 6th Annual Competition and Economic Regulation Week (ACER), which was hosted fully online for the first time, from 20-29 September 2021. The ACER Week combined three online Professional Training Programmes (PTPs), including Competition Economics and Policy, Legal Principles in Competition and Consumer Protection, and Advanced Masterclasses on Competition. The 6th ACER Week attracted over 130 practitioners and 12 competition authorities across South, East and Central Africa. The MCom in Competition and Economic Regulation is in its fourth year and continues to attract attention from various academic institutions across the country and other African countries in the region. In 2021, the programme had 17 candidates from countries such as Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia, Eswatini, Mauritius and South Africa. The Structural Transformation in South Africa: The Challenges of Inclusive Industrial Development in a Middle-Income Country edited volume published by Oxford University Press was launched on 21 September 2021. Minister Godongwana gave the keynote address on the ‘Policy Challenges of Economic Transformation’ with various media outlets present. This was followed by a panel discussion on the key insights from the book. The panel included Richard Kozul-Wright (UNCTAD), Trudi Makhaya (Presidency) and Fiona Tregenna (SARChI-ID, UJ). CCRED staff participated in policy-oriented outreach events, including as participants, presenters, panellists, and facilitators. Highlights include staff presenting papers at the Innovation and Inclusive Industrialization in Agro-processing (IIAP) Conference; International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) Conference; Symposium on Structural Transformation and Inclusive Industrial Development: The Relevance of South Africa’s Challenges and Experience; and Competition Commission’s 15th Annual Competition, Economics and Policy Conference. Staff were panellists at the African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) conference on Leveraging the AfCFTA to Boost Women’s Economic Empowerment (Panel on Competition Policy and the gender dimension); panellist (and chapter contributor) for the book launch, Handbook on Urban Food Security in the Global South, hosted by the Balsillie School of International Affairs (Centre for International Governance Innovation, the University of Waterloo, and Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada). A staff member facilitated the session by the South African Reserve Bank presenting on the Monetary Policy Review and Career Opportunities to School of Economics students at UJ. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES, SUSTAINABILITY, INNOVATION AND FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (4IR) In line with CCRED’s strategic objective of being a locus of knowledge on competition, regulation and industrial development, several research programmes are under way, in broad themes encompassing industrial policy and structural transformation, competition and barriers to entry, and regional value chains.
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